Old Hindi Movie 1970 To 1985 Download
Lutgarda Briseno
When the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency formed some fifteen years ago, America had just awakened to the seriousness of its environmental pollution problem. Creation of EPA was part of the response to growing public concern and a grass roots movement to "do something" about the deteriorating conditions of water, air, and land.
For years, raw sewage, industrial and feedlot wastes had been discharged into rivers and lakes without regard for the cumulative effect that made our waters unfit for drinking, swimming, and boating. Smokestack omissions and automobile exhausts made air pollution so bad in certain communities that some people died and many were hospitalized. The land itself was being polluted by indiscriminate dumping of municipal and industrial wastes and some very toxic chemicals that would later come to the fore when their steel drum containers would rust and leak hazardous materials into soil and aquifers.
For decades Americans had assumed that air and water were free and plentiful and the industrial community gave little thought to pollution. Following World War II, however, several developments changed this picture. The U.S. experienced a vast increase in throw-away packaging: cans, bottles, plastics, and paper products--and the introduction into the marketplace of thousands of new synthetic organic chemicals. As a result of this deluge of waste land toxic materials, the earth's automatic, self-cleansing, life support systems became increasingly threatened.
By the 1960s it was obvious that decisive steps had to be taken to correct this imbalance and to prevent future reoccurrences. People from all walks of life and from every part of the political spectrum were expressing their anxieties. Books like Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" became best sellers. Foundations, institutes, clubs, college curricula and corporate departments were formed to understand the problem and to arrive at solutions. Environmental agencies wore being created or given added responsibilities in most State governments.
It was in this atmosphere that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was created in 1970. EPA was not a carefully crafted well integrated organization in the beginning. President Nixon, by Executive Order "reorganized" the Executive Branch by transferring 15 units from existing organizations into a now independent agency, EPA. Four major Government agencies were involved.
It was not an easy birth. Air, Solid Waste, Radiological Health, Water Hygiene, and Pesticide Tolerance functions and personnel had been transferred from the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare; Water Quality and Pesticide Label Review came from the Interior Department; Radiation Protection Standards came from the Atomic Energy Commission and the Federal Radiation Council; Pesticide Registration came from the Department of Agriculture. Employees so transferred were accustomed to four varieties of policies, procedures, and administrative practices. It took several years under an able Administrator, William D. Ruckelshaus, to bring relative order out of the resulting chaos.
During this period a great many new environmental laws were passed and some old ones resurrected and refurbished as well as energy legislation that impacted on the environment. Other environmental type laws were enacted, such as:
"An environmental ethic is needed," said the new Administrator, William D. Ruckelshaus, in his first speech to the National Press Club. "Each of us must begin to realize our own relationship to the environment. Each of us must begin to measure the impact of our own decisions and actions on the quality of air, water, and soil of this nation," he said.
"In a surprise announcement," said the Wall Street Journal, Ruckelshaus warned the cities of Atlanta, Detroit, and Cleveland to halt alleged violations of water pollution standards within 180 days or face a possible Federal suit. Atlanta was cited for what he termed "the massive discharge of pollutants" into the Chattahoochee River. Detroit and Cleveland were cited for polluting the Lake Erie basin.
Ruckelshaus came to grips with pesticide issues just as quickly. DDT was the most popular and widely used insecticide in the world, recognized for its effectiveness, versatility, and persistence, and for its reasonable cost. The United Nations and the Agency for International Development used it for control of malaria.
However, a report of the President's Science Advisory Board in 1963, followed by Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" in 1964 drew attention to side effects of the pesticide. During the succeeding six years the public's concern became thoroughly aroused. The U.S. Department of Agriculture canceled DDT registrations for uses affecting some food crops and livestock. By 1970, agitation by the Environmental Defense Fund, the Audubon Society, the National Wildlife Federation, the Izaak Walton League, and other environmental groups led to EPA's first major decision to ban a chemical substance.
Transfer of the pesticide registration function from the Agriculture Department to EPA in December 1970 enabled the Administrator one month later, to announce his intent to cancel all remaining Federal registrations for DDT (some 320products) primarily affecting cotton, citrus fruits, and certain vegetables. Seven months of hearings followed, with 8900 pages of expert testimony from 125 witnesses. They dealt with effects, of DDT on fish, wildlife, and humans and with the negative aspects of malaria control and economics. In June 1972 Mr. Ruckelshaus announced his decision to cancel all remaining crop uses. This decision was upheld in .
There was legislation mandating cleanup and prevention of oil spills, acid mine drainage, and ocean dumping; and a Convention signed by 80 countries prohibiting ocean dumping of heavy metals, DDT, PCBs, persistent plastics and radioactive wastes, chemical and biological warfare agents, and requiring special permits for cyanides, fluorides, and medium and low level radioactive wastes. Congress appropriated $18 billion for sewage treatment grants. EPA argued that accelerating this activity would lead to approving projects that were neither environmentally effective nor cost effective. The President accused Congress of budget wrecking and impounded $9 billion of it.
The shortcomings of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act of 1947 (FIFRA), that is, the inability to control actual usage of pesticides led to passage of the Federal Environmental Pesticide Control Act of 1972 that contained several innovations. It provided for regulation of use, not just the label, for reregistration of all pesticides including those sold in intrastate commerce, for registration of manufacturing plants, and for national monitoring of pesticide residues.
Because of the OPEC-induced energy crisis in late 1973, low sulfur oils were in short supply; consequently, EPA and Congress were pressed to modify interpretation of the Clean Air Act to ease restrictions on sulfur dioxide emissions so that more coal could be substituted for oil, and to ease auto emission standards to secure greater fuel economy. Congress amended -the Clean Air Act, in 1974, giving EPA authority to suspend emission limitations temporarily and to extend deadlines for auto emissions standards.
In June 1973, a report by the National Commission on Materials policy recommended that EPA issue guidelines for environmentally sound solid waste management practices, including recovery. These guidelines were to be mandatory for Federal Agencies.
In April 1974 the Office of the Administrator for Air and Water Programs was reorganized, providing an Assistant Administrator for Air and an Assistant Administrator for Water. The latter subsequently headed the Office of Water and Waste Management.
The Safe Drinking Water Act was passed in December 1974, directing the Administrator to prescribe national drinking water standards, to control underground injection of wastewater to give technical assistance, and to aid the States in training of personnel.
During 1974, reports of the National Academy of Sciences, the General Accounting Office, the Senate Subcommittee on Environmental Pollution, the Water Pollution Control Federation and an EPA in-house committee, all criticized EPA's Office of Research and Development (ORD). It was said to have too many layers of management between the researchers and the Assistant Administrator, to have failed to establish long-range goals, and to have failed to coordinate its activities with the needs of the Agency. It was recognized that this was partly a reflection of fragmented Congressional oversight by diverse committee jurisdictions.
The bill authorizing funds for 1976 provided that no appropriation could be made to EPA for environmental research and development after FY 1976 unless previously authorized by legislation enacted by Congress. EPA instituted organization changes, and the Senate reorganized its committee structure, giving jurisdiction of R & D to the Environment and Public Works Committee.
The nation was confronted in 1975 with a shortage of architects and engineers qualified to design sewage treatment plants. Those available had sizable backlogs of projects they could not discharge for years. Further demand for their services merely inflated their fees. Nine billion dollars of the $18 billion appropriated had therefore been impounded by President Nixon. President Ford released $4 billion.
Then the Supreme Court ruled in Train v. the City of New York that impoundments of sewage treatment grant funds were illegal, so the full $18 billion became available for allotment. Administrator Train's warnings were to no avail. The subsequent Public Works Employment Act of 1976 incorporating the $18 billion was vetoed by President Ford but, Congress overrode his veto and the full State-by-State allotment of the $18 billion was authorized.
In 1975, EPA issued a policy statement concerning exposure to low-level ionizing radiation and issued regulations controlling man-made radioactivity in drinking water as well as environmental protection standards for nuclear fuel cycle operations.
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